‘Heroes’ 4.12: Burnt by a Pyrrhic victory

Dammit, “Heroes,” why’d you have to scuttle an otherwise enjoyable finale with such a, well, un-final finale to the finale?

“An Invisible Thread,” the 12th and final chapter in our Heroic little tale of a powered-people roundup that should have never been, percolated with action and excitement as it built toward an ultimate clash between Sylar, now a shape-shifter hellbent to become President, and those powerful Petrelli brothers Nathan and Peter, now reconciled and hellbent to stop Sy and the super Gitmo for good.

It looked like we had another solid episode in this volume’s late uptick. Then the doors closed and it all went to hell. As in fire and downright playing with souls.

Good thing the next volume of “Heroes” is called “Redemption,” because after this wonky ending this show is really going to need it.

Hit that jump for blazing spoilers and burnt feelings.

Up until the end, this week’s finale pretty much rocked with Sy’s evil quest to become the President and rule the world and all that jazz, which is just the kind of Dr. Doom-like ambition a sicko with Sy’s myriad powers would and should want.

As for Pete and Nathan teaming up to take down Sy, of course that had all sorts of potential. Never mind that Nate’s seen the error of his ways — I’ve said before Nate has to pay for all the pain he’s brought to Pete and everyone else with powers. A big throwdown with Sy looked like the perfect avenue for that kind of comeuppance.

And come on, wouldn’t it be awesome to see Nate sacrifice himself for Pete to take down Sylar, going down ala Darth Vader in “Return of the Jedi”? (Hell, we got enough of that tease in previews with Sy rocking the lightning like the evil Emperor.) Besides, Pete’s just sappy enough to be the Luke in this superhero opera.

But nooooo. Rather than give us a glorious battle, we instead get the same view Claire gets — closed doors with lots of noise and flashes behind them. Curse you, lousy “Heroes” budget.

Think that’s a gyp? It gets worse: When the dust settles, Claire enters the trashed room to find Pete but no Nate and Sy. So Claire and Pete leave, only to miss Sy throw Nate into the room and then slit his throat.

Yes, Sy kills Nate — not in a blaze of glory but pretty much just like any other red-shirt of a powered person Sy encounters in this show.

Pete and Claire have no idea what happened. Which makes it even lamer when Pete, having sponged Sy’s power, later takes down Sy by posing as the President, unaware he just beat the man who killed his brother.

So yeah, talk about your poetic justice with a screwed up last stanza.

But wait, it gets even worse.

Angela dreamed that Matt would save Nate, only they find her son dead. So Angela and Noah convince Matt to get into Sylar’s head and convince the psycho that Sylar’s dead and he’s really Nathan. Why? So Fake Nate can tell the Prez the whole super Gitmo thing was a big mistake. Matt hates the idea, but the alternative is even more persecution so Matt does the mindfreak on Sy.

And so our fourth volume ends with Fake Nate burning the body of Fake Sylar, who you’ll recall was the original shape-shifter Sylar killed. Ugh.

It’s only fitting Volume 5 start with the return of a vengeful Tracy. Because you know how this show can’t quit Ali Larter despite seemingly killing off her characters? It apparently can’t part ways with Adrian Pasdar either.

So let’s do the math here:

• Nate’s dead, only he’s really “alive” as Sylar, who’s now “dead.”

• Pete and Claire have no idea Angela and Noah cooked up this bowl of crazy, which is sure to shred any family ties they wove post-Coyote Sands when they find out later. And you know they will.

• Matt’s pissed he had to play soul swapper.

• Hiro’s bummed he can no longer use his power without popping his head or something.

• Mohinder’s back to framing episodes with lofty voiceovers.

Yeah, that about sounds like basic “Heroes” action.

So is “Heroes” worth coming back to? Honestly, I don’t know. I really liked how the show righted the ship of late, but this finale pretty much qualifies as a grand slam into the iceberg. Still, missteps aside, this latest season showed “Heroes” is capable of improvement.

Tell you what: I’ll at least give it the benefit of the doubt for the first episode or two of the new volume, if only so you don’t have to.